How To Use a "USB (Portable) Key"

[Jay Sage]

I unregistered my old computer and then used the "USB (Portable) Key" option on the TCMD "Register" tab. I how have a file on a memory stick called TakeCommand.25.key.

What do I do with that file? I could not find any information in the help file about how to use it.

 

[Jay Sage]

My message seems to have gotten lost.

How to Use a Registration Key on a Memory Stick​

I was asking what I do with a registration key on a memory stick. I unregistered one of my copies and then used the option "USB (Portable) Key" on the registration screen to create a file on a memory stick. Now what do I do to use that key? I could not find any documentation.

Issue With Checking Registration Status​

Also, I tried using the "Show License Info" option on the registration screen. I have entered my registration key, but that option remains greyed out. Oh, I just read the documentation more carefully and went to the Register option under the Help menu instead of the Option menu. There it works! This strikes me as a bit of a bug. Getting to the registration dialog in two different ways should not give different results. Or the "Show License Info" button should not appear on the screen reached from the Options menu.

 

[rconn]

Take Command will look for that key file when you start it from a USB drive. You don't need to do anything with it unless you've moved TCMD.

The registration on the OPTIONS dialog is for TCC; the registration from the TCMD help menu is for TCMD (+TCC).

 

[Jay Sage]

When you say that TCMD will look for that file "when you start it from a USB drive", I'm not sure exactly what that means. How do I start it from the USB drive when the program is installed on the computer? Can the program be installed on a USB drive?

 

[rconn]

Take Command must be installed on the USB drive for the portable key to work.

 

[Jay Sage]

Take Command must be installed on the USB drive for the portable key to work.

Well, that begs the question. How do I do that? I just inserted the memory stick, which became drive F. However, when I run the installer, it detects that TCMD is already installed and does not offer the option to install a fresh copy (I would have chosen a folder on drive F).

 

[rconn]

You can't do a USB drive install on a system that already has TCMD installed.

 

[Joe Caverly]

Ref: How to? Create a portable version of TCMD to use on other computers w/o installation

I ran into that problem too, which was part of the reason for my original post. I ended up setting up a virtual machine (w/o Take Command being installed in it) and used it to install TC onto the thumb drive, and registered it with the USB key option within there. The thumb drive installation works successfully on multiple computers that I tested it with. But it still seems like an issue to have to use another computer or VM to install the thumb drive version without having to uninstall from your main computer first.

Joe